Social Networking: Make It Imperfectly Human for Me

New York City, Seth Godin, Ann Michael, and a Paper Flower

In August 1998, I was wandering the streets in New York City. Later that evening our company sales conference would start. As I turned the corner somewhere near 33rd and Park, I was enjoying the view in a florist window. I walked two stores past. Stopped. Something I’d noticed had taken me. I literally backed up ten paces and went into that flower store. I came out grinning.

What had stopped me were handmade paper flowers — taller than I am. I had found a new friend for my presentation the next day. I left the florist with giant flower with a stem down to my ankles and greeted New York like a giant kid with a huge balloon. The flower has shared my office ever since. On occasion, it even sits in my desk chair.

In 2006, I returned to that same New York neighborhood for a Seth Godin seminar. I met Ann Michael. there for the first time. As we walked around the city, I’m sure I told her the story of that flower and the people who opened doors for me — the strange tall woman with a bag in one hand and unhelpful flower friend in the other.

I keep a white silk flower in a blue glass vase on a shelf in my living room. I bought the vase from a catalog. Then I bought the flower. They look stunning together, but they have no story.

If you want to get noticed, don’t be so polished. . . . When in doubt, scrawl make it human.

I looked around for examples in my life — and I found two flowers . . .

That white rose in the blue vase is elegant, but that that paper flower connects me to people — people who’ve seen it in my office or heard the tale of how it got bought. That paper flower calls up so many stories, it could fuel a blog.

When you make a blog, a social network, or product for me, could you make it imperfectly human? It’s human touch that lingers and connects.

Hey Liz, I have a hand carved baseball, made of stone from great guys i met while experiencing the jungle (where Jurassic Park was filmed for scenery)in the Dominican Republic. Its not a perfect ball but its so well crafted considering where they stay that I had to get it.

I created a temporary website for my copy writing services using Google Sites. I want to get a website professionally designed; but for now this does the trick. It’s clean, it communicates what I do, and it shows off my portfolio.

A typo here, a misplaced character there aren’t about to detract from the authenticity of the writer. Authenticity is essential to blogging. You’re so right, the human touches are what help make the connection.

I think the quest to be “sanitized” and perfect in social networking is merely an attempt to mask your authenticity.

I came to your blog this morning, because I was pruning my RSS feeds. In my quest, I found a whole lot of inauthenticity for lack of a better word. One self professed blog expert had obviously copied from Word and pasted directly into his blog. (Ordered and unordered lists don’t make that transition well AT ALL)

Another self professed blogging expert hadn’t set up his RSS feed correctly and my iGoogle subscription hadn’t shown the last 50 posts from his blog. Yet another pulled a typical MMO tactic of “look at the fabulous home I’m considering buying and by the way, have you seen my fabulous car?”

(The first two gentlemen are charging several THOUSAND dollars offering YOU the opportunity to have a blog just like they have! The third will charge you several THOUSAND dollars to create copy for you.)

phht! phew! phewy!!! My coffee isn’t strong enough to wash the bitter taste out of my mouth after reading those three blogs one after another.

Thankfully, there is one blog expert I can always count on to be human AND authentic. Your RSS feed has risen to the top of my iGoogle where it began and where it belongs.

What a timely reminder!
Sometimes in our eagerness to add value, make a unique contribution, and/or present ourselves as experts, we pass on our hard-learned insights as if they were pristine, obvious truths. And as a result forfeit the human touch that is always learning, never perfect, and looking to connect along the way.

I can relate something from my oil painting experience that relates to the human aspect.

I experimented with projecting photographs onto a canvas, tracing around them and then painting them in. The results were nice but they always seemed lacking in something. I decided to just wing it out of my head, throw proper anatomy to the lions and while the results were often strange, they seemed more like ‘fine art’ and were far more satisfying.

What a great blog post and story. I love it! I tend to have “toys” and other fun stuff scattered around my office. I want to be professional of course, but I also like to put people at ease and bring some fun into the workplace. Life is too short not to stop for giant paper roses.

I can see another thing that goes with your flower – the way you reply to people’s comments! I’m always surprised when people don’t, no matter what the size of their blog audience is.

I love this quote/philosophy so much. It immediately made me think of the way I (almost at that very moment, in fact) send new customers a welcome message before the invoice, and throw something personal in at the end of the message.

My business is very new, in its second official week, and yet I’ve already been struck by how wonderful and friendly my customers are and what great conversations I’ve had just by going out of my way to add that personal, sloppy touch. And, of course, it means I get to learn more about what works for people, what they like about the business, and who they’ve already told about it! Hey – maybe I should write about this on its blog!

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